26-April-2016
Wang Theatre
Boston, USA

Long time Van fan writes:
Powerful performance tonight in Boston from Van and band. Supreme confidence from Morrison, whose body language was riveting in its energy. Swaying back and forth, side to side, rearing back and wailing. Nothing was held back by anybody. Balanced set list with everything performed impeccably with a very deep groove. Audience reaction was a state of constant euphoria. The workshops ornate and brilliant. A well-earned "A" all the way. Healing power.
-Dan M.

Music-News
Irish troubadour Van Morrison, now in his sixth decade as a performer, may be 70 years old, but performed the first of two sold out shows at the Citi Performing Arts Center in Boston, MA on April 26, 2016, as if time has not passed him by the at all.

Looking very dapper in his now trademark hat, Morrison leaned more toward a jazz-ish feel at times during the night. Starting with the tour standard instrumental opener (which Morrison played saxophone on), "Celtic Swing, followed by "Close Enough for Jazz, it was clear this was going to be an eclectic Morrison event.

With a jukebox of hits in his repertoire, Morrison does not need to delve into other material, but he did a smooth take on Johnny Mercer's "That Old Black Magic" and gave a nod to the late B.B. King with a killer "Rock Me Baby".

The adoring crowd was well rewarded with a raucous "Wild Night," which led into a slight turn to his gospel side, when Morrison pulled out his late 80's track “Whenever God Shines His Light,” which was originally a duet with Cliff Richard, but was smoothly executed with tour vocalist Dana Masters.

For all his seven decades on earth, Morrison's voice has not appeared to decrease at all and sounded as robust as ever. Breaking into his most famous track "Brown Eyed Girl," which went into full swing when the crowd sang along ardently to the “Sha la la la” refrain, which led into a stellar version of his iconic "Into The Mystic."

The show ending cover of Ben E. King's “Stand By Me” was an alluring choice for the concerts coda. Obviously “Moondance” or “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?” would have made for a better closer for the Morrison faithful, but his passionate “Stand By Me” did provide a compelling end to the show.

With all the recent passing of so many classic rockers lately, it was great to see an icon in the genre as Morrison still as virile and on the top of his game.
-John Reed

Setlist (Thanks Mike S.)
Celtic Swing
Close Enough For Jazz
Magic Time
By His Grace
In the Midnight
Born to Sing w/Chris Farlowe
Old Black Magic w/ Shana Morrison
Rock Me Baby
Someone Like You
Wavelength
Sometimes we Cry
Enlightenment
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now
In the Afternoon/Ancient Highway/Burn Baby Burn/Raincheck
Wild Night
Whenever God Shines His Light
It's all In The Game/Burning Ground
Brown Eyed Girl
Into the Mystic
Stand by Me w/Chris Farlowe

20-January-2016
Fox Theater
 Oakland, USA

via Rosati Photos

Setlist
Celtic Swing
Higher Than The World
Magic Time
By His Grace
Here Comes The Night
Wild Night
Sometimes We Cry
That Old Black Magic
Real Real Gone
Carrying A Torch
Did Ye Get Healed
The Way Young Lovers Do
Whenever God Shines His Light
Someone Like You
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now
Cleaning Windows
Keep It Simple
Precious Time
In The Garden
Gloria

Big Hand for The Band!
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)
Dana Masters (Vocals)
Shana Morrison (Guest Vocals)

15-January-2016
Shrine Auditorium
 Los Angeles, USA

Los Angeles Times (Source)

At the end of a week that began for many pop music fans with feelings of shock and loss at the death of David Bowie, another widely esteemed musician arrived in Los Angeles with a performance that reminded us why we value and feel so deeply connected to certain artists.

Van Morrison, who turned 70 in August, is less than two years Bowie’s senior. Yet the singer and songwriter from Belfast, Northern Ireland, may seem more the elder statesman because he came into the public eye with his band, Them, during the early part of the British Invasion, well before Bowie’s presence began to be felt.

His first of two shows this weekend at the 6,300-capacity Shrine Auditorium on Friday, launching a new U.S. tour leg, was a masterful exploration of music as something that reaches deeper than what is measured by sales charts.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, of course, has had his fair share of songs and albums that clicked commercially earlier in his career, and he dolloped several of those into his 105-minute show.

But it was as though he used hits of yore -- including “Moondance,” “Wild Night,” “Brown-Eyed Girl” and “Baby Please Don’t Go” -- as bait to pull the packed audience to the deeper album tracks spanning half a century of his writing, recording and performing that served as the emotional and spiritual core of his show.

Morrison opened, in front of a tight, jazz-rooted, five-member band -- keyboadist-trumpeter and musical director Paul Moran, guitarist Dave Keary, bassist Paul Moore, drummer Robbie Ruggiero and singer Dana Masters -- blowing his alto sax on the instrumental “Celtic Swing.”

From there he took on a variety of roles: lead singer, harmonica player, rhythm and, occasionally, lead guitarist.

His rendition of “And the Healing Has Begun” was particularly comforting for those still feeling raw about Bowie’s death, as Morrison sang about the restorative power of music:

And we’ll walk down the avenue again

And we’ll sing all the songs from way back when

And we’ll walk down the avenue again

And the healing has begun

As he often does in concert, he used the basic framework of his recorded versions of songs as a springboard to in-the-moment vocal and instrumental exploration. He opened songs up, riffed and extemporized, marrying the technical dexterity of a seasoned jazz musician with the emotional acuity of a veteran blues artist.

He reached beyond his own extensive song catalog to assay “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” hewing closer to Paul Robeson’s version than to the Richie Havens rendition more familiar to those who grew up in the age of Woodstock.

He reworked even his own most familiar songs, not in the frequently unrecognizable way that Bob Dylan often re-imagines his classics, as if consciously defying fans to sink into mechanical singalong mode, but to make them relevant to who he is now.

In place of the bouncy R&B lilt he originally came up with for “Brown-Eyed Girl,” he recast it this time with a decided jazz swing rhythm. “Moondance” also veered even more into jazz than his recorded version with inventive yet smartly straightforward sections he played on his alto sax in tandem with trumpeter Moran.

Perhaps the most illuminating new version of one of his signature songs was his approach to “Baby Please Don’t Go.” When he recorded it in 1964 with Them, when he was in his late teens, it was a forceful, desperate plea from a young man on the verge of adulthood.

Fifty years later, he sang Joe Williams’ blues standard with a vastly more restrained yearning, a wish filtered through the acceptance that comes with the experience of knowing that life sometimes has something else in store than what we have in mind.

Morrison's daughter, singer Shana Morrison, joined him briefly mid-set for a spirited arrangement of “That Old Black Magic” that seemed inspired by the Louis Prima-Keely Smith version. At one point, Morrison sang one of his lines, casually flicked his thumb in his daughter’s direction for her to pick up the song from there. It was a joyful moment of father-daughter communication, the master seeming to challenge her to “now show me what the student has learned.”

The pièce de résistance was his performance of “It’s All in the Game,” an early 20th century melody written by future U.S. Vice President Charles Dawes, given lyrics in 1951 by songwriter Carl Sigman and popularly recorded in 1958 by Tommy Edwards.

Morrison’s version has little in common with Edwards’ lovely but relatively straightforward performance. Morrison uses it almost as Buddhists use “om” as a chant to help them connect with a higher realm.

He stretched each line, twisting, turning, repeating words and syllables, so when he reached the line “and your heart will fly away,” Morrison led listeners with him along his transcendent path.

It wasn’t, however, as if Morrison, who returns to the Shrine Saturday night, spent the night with his head in the clouds. For an artist who is notoriously prickly, who has often spent time on stage tongue-lashing band members when they didn’t deliver what he had in mind, Morrison was in an uncommonly jocular mood, making quips to the audience and to his fellow musicians.

All in all, Morrison’s performance was a thoroughly invigorating celebration of music, and by extension, of life that arrived just when many of us needed it most.
-Randy Lewis

Setlist
Celtic Swing
Close Enough for Jazz
Magic Time
Baby Please Don't Go/Parchman Farm/Don't Start Crying Now
In the Afternoon/Burn Baby Burn/Raincheck
Motherless Child
And The Healing Has Begun
Thanks For The Information
Moondance
Old Black Magic w/Shana Morrison
Rough God Goes Riding w/Shana Morrison
Wild Night
Whenever God Shines His Light
Brown Eyed Girl
In The Midnight
All In The Game/Burning Ground
Into The Mystic

Big Hand for The Band!
Dave Keary (Guitar)
Paul Moore (Bass)
Paul Moran (Keyboards)
Bobby Ruggiero (Drums)
Dana Masters (Vocals)
Shana Morrison (Guest Vocals)